question authority

I’m probably not as extreme about this as others who’ve added this as a goal. I just want to know what why they expect me to do certain things. I go to a public high school, and I want to know why I’m learning about calculus and United States economy when there are nations out there that have nothing. And why I’m only learning about abstinence as opposed to safe-sex, when there’s tons of teenagers who are completely uninformed because the school refuses to inform them.

I’d also like to know why the most crotchety old teachers get the title of best teachers. I’ve learned nothing but gumpiness from my old math teacher.

Questioning authority has its price.

Writing about alternative forms of money for PRACTICAL ANARCHY magazine, I restated the facts presented by the Encyclopedia Britannica: “By 700 BC, merchants were die-punching nuggets of electrum to mark them so they wouldn’t have to be reweighed.” But as I was writing, I told myself a joke. “If any merchant ever punched a nugget of electrum,” I said in my head, “it was to avoid taking back a bad penny.” In that moment, I realized that the Britannica was wrong about this. I sent the article in anyway. (You can read it at http://www.textfiles.com/magazines/PAO/pao-9310.txt and since then, I have been active in a “community currency” project called BAY BUCKS www.baybucks.org) But I went deeper into the research with this.

Many other books about coins, coin collecting, and money cite this same theory, that merchants invented coins by punching naturally-occuring lumps of electrum.

I wrote up my objections and sent them to THE CLASSICAL NUMISMATIC QUARTERLY. The editor rejected the article. As a writer, I had no problem with that. I asked the editor if there was something that needed to be fixed. He said, “We know this. You’re reading the wrong books.” The books at the Michigan State University library were from a previous generation. He sent me a bibliography. I acquired and read those and then followed the sources back to the original journal articles. I re-wrote the article and CNQ published it.

I continued the research and expanded the article. I sent the new work to the American Numismatic Association. They rejected it. I queried back and the editor said that the article contradicted the known authorities. So, I sent the CNQ publication in reply and asked for a reconsideration. The ANA submitted my work for peer review. Based on that, they published it… and granted me a Heath Literary Award for the work. I got a check for the article, a silver medal, and another check. It pays to question authority.

This is not the end of the story, but it is where I stopped, having moved on to other interests…
The Origins of Coinage by Michael E. Marotta
© Copyright 1993-2001 by Michael E. Marotta
We don’t know why coins were invented. It is true that we find them very useful today. We know that coinage was invented around 650 BC. However, the motivation for the striking of the first coins remains a mystery. ... The Tyrant theory could also explain the first coins as anonymous badges of conspiracy. (more)
http://www.coin-newbies.com/articles/origin.html

It’ important to learn critical thinking.

...now if only I could stop questioning myself

Read the following books: Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson, The First Sex by Elizabeth Gould Davis (it’s out of print, but you can get it used on Amazon) and Lies My Teacher Told Me.

Know Fascism when you see it – http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm

Take a class on MaybeLogic website.

Read Buzzflash.com every day.

Subscribe to ODE magazine.

It IS a conspiracy and they ARE out to get you…

This is a goal that one must obtain every minute of every day. It’s a constant. It takes practice.
Doesn’t mean that every one in charge is evil. But It’s good to keep in mind that if you delegate your life choices to others then you’re headed for unhappiness, and might even be instrumental in generating unhappiness for others.
So THINK!!!! please.
I grew up in the sixties and seventies. “In my time” this way of thinking was probably the most common. But where has it gone? how many young people today realize how important it is not to take authourity at face value.

This goal will never be attained, because you must adopt it as a philosophy of life. Every day one must remember that we need to question things in life to grow and develop. It is not enough to read & learn, but we have to find the answers behind the questions for ourselves.

One of the most important lessons in life that I learned from two of my college professors (Jerry White & Steven Killian) was to question what they taught. They told me that in my quest for answers I would be drawn to learn more & in some cases to different conclusions. They showed me that the only way to live is to question authority, otherwise we are destined to be zombies sleeping walking to our graves.